democratic state senator steven horsford is having the fight of his life. down in every poll, sometimes by double digits. because of this man, republican danny tarkanian, the son of legendary u.n.l.v. basketball coach jerry tarkanian. horsford has been appealing to the 55% of voters registered as demoats to win this sprawling and increasingly diverse district. from its sparsely populated mining communitieses to the densely populated latino and african-american neighborhoods in the northern tip of the las vegas valley. both candidates are spending a lot of time on the road to meet with voters. horsford is currently the majority leader of the state senate. and he has focused his campaign on economic issues. >> what i've heard from the voters is the same thing. with a are we going to do to get people working and grow the economy? how are we going to address the housing crisis and what are you going to do to protect medicare and social security? i have strong positions on those issues. my opponent does not. >> reporter: tarkanian has benefited from his family's